Any one notice having to crank the audio up a bit higher on OTA recordings?

I have a Denon 3313ci, and generally the volume is around -10.0db to -12.0db for Dish satellite, Dish OTA, Amazon VOD files on the Tivo, but my few OTA recordings on the Roamio Ive tried are like -5.0db. Thats pretty high, 0.0 is reference level. Im outputting DD from the TiVo.

If the receiver says Dolby Digital then TiVo is just passing that through from the source.

There was a law passed recently that requires all broadcasters to normalize audio to a specification. (the CALM act) I think Dish is exempt from this, so they could be cranking up their audio which is why you're seeing such a difference.

Id agree, but the Dish version is OTA too. Could just be the way the tivo handles it, Ive seen it before. Replace a DVR with a new model, and the normal volume setting for nighttime viewing needs to be adjusted, also can fluctuate depending on content.

I just noticed in general the TiVo OTA feed requires a little more volume.

Switching between Premiere XL OTA and Roamio OTA the volume level sounds about the same. But tuning to an analog cable channel the sound is so substantially louder that I always have to turn the volume down.

Well, in theory the OTA audio could be less compressed, which generally means higher volume is needed. Im not worried about, the only curiosity I had is why it was so different from OTA on Dish, but that could just be the DVR itself.

But TiVo doesn't "handle" the audio at all of it's AC3. They do not have the proper licenses to do anything to AC3 audio so all they can do is pass it through to your receiver as-is. Not sure about Dish. Maybe they do have the licenses and are doing something to the audio? Although that seems unlikely. What about your receiver? Some receivers have unique settings for each input, maybe the settings are different between the Dish and TiVo inputs?

Now if the audio is PCM then TiVo does "handle" it so there could be a difference there.

Dish does license some audio leveling technology in its boxes. They added this years ago precisely to address complaints form subscribers about the how loud the commercials were. I think it is defaulted ON. I ALWAYS turn it OFF because I find it can cause other minor audio issues. Once it is shut off, the audio is MUCH better to my ears and had increased dynamic range, or is not as loud.

If you go to the SETTINGS menu, and make way to AUDIO, you should see an option titled AUDIO LEVELING, or something like that. If it isn't off, then turn it OFF and compare. Also, in the same screen is the MODE option. LINE should be selected if you are using and A/V amp for your audio. RF is if your are using your TV speakers for sound. There can be quite a difference in sound loudness between the two. Also, on the same screen is the DOLBY/PCM and PCM ONLY option. PCM only is louder than DOLBY/PCM.